


A Rose In Any Other State of Disarray

by benwisehart



Category: Marvel 616, Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Mostly Fluff, Mother's Day, Mother-Son Relationship, POV Wanda Maximoff, Tommy has issues, Tommy needs to be wrapped in a blanket and loved forever, Wanda is used to dealing with speedsters, side characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2016-05-13
Packaged: 2018-06-08 02:50:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6836017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/benwisehart/pseuds/benwisehart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are two bunches of flowers in front of Wanda’s Upper East Side apartment when she steps out of it on Sunday morning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Rose In Any Other State of Disarray

**Author's Note:**

> Am I too late to post this?? Yes??? I'm posting it anyway.
> 
> Because Tommy is a trainwreck and needs more love, Billy is a sweetheart, and Wanda wants to look after her babies so badly.

There are two bunches of flowers in front of Wanda’s Upper East Side apartment when she steps out of it on Sunday morning. 

The first to catch her eye is a large bouquet of red and pink in a ceramic pink box, overflowing with fuchsia rosebuds complimented with red carnations and small pink asters, the kind of arrangement that could only have been done by a professional. It is beautiful; from the looks of it, whoever delivered it has only just left. Faintly concealing a smile, Wanda kneels down to pick up the card hanging off its side, catching the sweet scent of the roses as she does so, and opens it. It is written in beautiful printed calligraphy. 

_Dear Wanda,_

_Happy Mother’s Day!_

_Love, Billy_

Wanda folds the card again, still smiling, perhaps a little more obviously than before. She will be meeting Billy’s family later for breakfast. The fact that he took the time to order flowers for her as well is an unexpected surprise, but it fills her heart with something warm that she has not felt in a very long time. 

The second bouquet is propped up against the first, although something about it makes Wanda think it has been there the longest. It is wrapped up in paper. Roses as well, from the look of it, although it’s difficult to be sure; most of the flowers have started to fall apart, loose petals falling into the bottom of the cone where the stems are, and a few of them are barely more than a few stray petals clinging determinedly to their receptacle. There are a few other types of flowers as well, although there doesn’t seem to be a distinct colour scheme. Whatever it might have looked like to begin with, it has gone through hell and back in the time it took to be delivered to her door. 

Wanda’s smile grows as she picks it up, lifting it to her face and inhaling. If she is honest, it doesn’t have much of a scent anymore, but that is beside the point, and she has a trained nose. There is no note or card attached to this one, but there doesn’t need to be for Wanda to know where it came from, or how it came to be in its present state. That is enough, for now. Carefully, she lifts Billy’s bouquet as well, cradling one of them carefully in each arm as she carries them back inside. She places Billy’s on the coffee table in the middle of the living room before going to find a vase for the other.

“Secret admirers?” A voice grabs Wanda’s attention from across the room, and she raises her head to meet Agatha’s eyes. The ghostly apparition of Wanda’s old mentor is standing over the flowers on the table with a hint of a smile.

“Something of the sort,” Wanda says, taking the vase over to the kitchen and filling it with water. Agatha may be dead but she is not senile; she knows what day this is as well as Wanda does, although Wanda has made no actual attempt to discuss it with her until now. 

Agatha straightens up. “He is a good boy, that child. Are you seeing him today?”

“Yes.” It’s hard to mistake the happiness in Wanda’s tone at the prospect. “I was just going out for it, actually,” she adds, unwrapping the second bouquet and adding it to the vase, a small shower of petals spilling out onto her kitchen counter in the process. Wanda carries it over to her mantlepiece, placing it there in the middle. 

“I’d best not keep you, then,” Agatha says with a twinkle in her eyes. She knows how much this means to her. “What about Thomas?”

Wanda doesn’t answer right away, but her eyes linger on the vase of flowers she has yet to walk away from. “He cares, in his own way,” she says simply. 

Agatha doesn’t speak again, and when Wanda turns around to look back at where she was standing, she is no longer visible. She lets out a sigh. The twins have always been a source of tension between the two of them. No, perhaps tension is not the right word. Whatever the case, the fact remains that it was over them that Agatha was killed. If she bears Wanda any lingering grudge for what happened, she never mentions it, but Wanda does not speak of her children often. 

Still, maybe she ought to bring it up with her later. Agatha has been her mentor and her friend through some of the hardest times in her life; they owe each other more than to pretend what happened between them never did. 

For now, though, Wanda has a breakfast to attend.

 

* * *

 

 

The Kaplan family is already waiting outside the cafe when Wanda gets there, although she did make a point of arriving early. Billy is standing with Jeff and Rebecca, and his brothers—and of course Teddy is there too; he’s the first one to spot Wanda as she approaches, and he taps Billy, who quickly turns and breaks into a grin upon seeing her. 

He comes over, meeting her before she reaches the group, and pulls her into a hug. “Hi, Wanda! I’m so happy you could come,” he says, the words gushing out as though he honestly hadn’t expected her to show up. 

“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” Wanda assures him as she returns the hug. She is still beaming when he lets her go, and she puts a hand on his cheek briefly. Somehow, he is still taller every time she sees him. “Thank you for the flowers. They were absolutely beautiful,” she tells him. 

Billy looks flustered. “Oh, you know, I just thought they might brighten things up a bit,” he says, taking her arm as they rejoin the rest of the family. 

Teddy is handsome as ever; he’s even wearing a suit. Jeff gives Wanda a welcoming smile, and even Billy’s brothers, although evidently nervous at the prospect of having a veteran Avenger join them for tea, wave at her shyly. Rebecca hugs Wanda as well when she reaches them. “Wanda, I’m glad you could make it,” she says warmly. 

Not at all the welcome of somebody jealous or uncomfortable at having another woman encroach on what by all accounts should be her special day. Until now, Wanda did not realise how nervous the prospect of sharing breakfast with Billy’s family actually made her, but now she is here she can feel it all melting away to simple contentment. She could not have imagined a better family for her son with all of reality at her fingertips. They are good people, people who adore him, and seeing him with them now, seeing how happy he is amongst them, it fills her with joy. 

“Hey, wait a second.” Billy looks at Wanda just as a young waiter starts to show them to their table. “We booked for eight, where’s Tommy?”

Wanda stills for a moment. “Tommy is coming?” she asks, surprised. 

“He said he’d come with you,” Billy says, frowning. “You haven’t heard from him?”

Wanda thinks of the flowers outside her apartment this morning. “I haven’t spoken to him at all,” she says softly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t even realise.”

“It’s okay.” Billy looks worried, and he exchanges a glance with Teddy, who is waiting a few feet away while the rest of the Kaplans start to sit down. “Maybe he forgot—well, I don’t know. He’s terrible with dates, I’ll text him. He can get here in—”

“No, don’t,” Wanda says, placing a hand on Billy’s wrist. Tommy has not forgotten what day it is. If he hasn’t come, he has his reasons. The last thing she wants is to put him in an uncomfortable situation. “It’s alright, Billy, don’t bother him.”

Still, she won’t deny how much would have loved to see him today. Or to see him at all. She doesn’t even know where he lives. Once, after what happened in Latveria, she looked him up; she found out who his parents were and tried to contact them. Wanda had scarcely even mentioned Tommy’s name before his father had ardently denied even having a son and hung up on her without another word. As for Tommy’s mother, Wanda couldn’t even reach her. The phone number she had listed was disconnected.

Breakfast is a pleasant affair. Just before the food arrives, Billy’s younger brothers bring out a pair of poorly wrapped boxes to gift to their mother, who accepts them with a delighted laugh. The first, from the youngest boy, is a small fridge magnet made of clothes pegs and coloured pipe cleaners; apparently, the whole class had made them at school. The second is a beautiful necklace that the older of the two had bought by saving up his allowance for the last six months.

It is a lovely scene, but it makes Wanda’s heart ache in a way she was not expecting it to. Her children are grown up now, even if can still have the privilege of calling them hers. She has never been given a handmade fridge magnet in her life. It seems such a foolish thing to be wishing for, but it represents something. Something that was taken from her. Or had it never been hers to begin with?

Along the table, Billy doesn’t notice, and Wanda is grateful for it. She does not want to make this uncomfortable for anyone, least of all for him. Soon, conversation shifts to other things; Billy and Teddy’s engagement, Jeff and Rebecca’s work colleagues, how the boys have been doing at school. Wanda listens intently, nodding when she needs to, laughing at all the right moments. It is nice. She is happy—really, she is. But that does nothing to shake the feeling that she does not belong here. When breakfast is finally over, she is a tiny bit relieved. 

Billy walks her back to her car. 

“I want to thank you again for inviting me along, Billy,” she says, glancing him once they are out of earshot from the rest of the group. “Truly, I had a wonderful time.”

“Aw, you know, it wouldn’t be the same without you,” Billy says, scratching his neck self-consciously. “I was kind of worried it would feel weird. Did it feel weird?” 

“It didn’t feel weird,” Wanda says, taking his hand and squeezing it. She does not want to let go. “You have a lovely family and I’m lucky to be a part of it.”

They reach the parking lot, and they stop walking. “I’m sorry about Tommy,” Billy says, after a moment’s pause. “I really thought he’d to come. I can’t believe he lied to me about talking to you.”

“Don’t be angry with Tommy,” Wanda says gently, although she’s certain Billy will try and call Tommy as soon as she is gone no matter what she says. “He has his reasons.”

Billy does not seem convinced, almost as though he sees Tommy as his own responsibility, one which he has failed. Before he can say more, Wanda leans forward to kiss his cheek. “Please do not bother him on my account,” she says firmly, before hesitating. “Although…I would appreciate it if you made sure he is alright.” Perhaps she is not as above this as she thinks she is. “I don’t hear from him very often. I never know what he’s doing. I know he trusts you, though. Will you do that for me?” 

“Yes. Yeah, of course. Don’t even need to ask,” Billy promises, hugging Wanda again, a little tighter than before. She wraps her arms around him, exhaling softly. Another moment of silence passes between them before Billy says, “Love you, Wanda.”

“I love you too, Billy,” she murmurs as he pulls away, looking down at him with a buzzing feeling of warmth in her chest. How could she ever have doubted that he was anyone but her baby? How had she not known it the instant she saw him outside Avengers mansion an eternity ago? She lets her hands drop. “Don’t be a stranger. You’re always welcome to visit.”

“Thank you,” Billy says, waving as Wanda moves over to unlock her car. “I’ll talk to you later!”

Wanda waves back, still smiling as she gets into the driver’s seat. Billy is a sweet boy. A little reckless at times, to be sure, but good, and kind. He is somebody who can always be counted on to do what he thinks is right. It is an honour to call herself his mother. 

She knows why Tommy did not come today, and she doesn’t blame him for it. How can she, when she felt it herself? The Kaplans are wonderful people; kind and welcoming and generous almost to a fault, so willing to open their arms to outsiders, but before she came along, there was nothing lacking in their family unit, no roles needing to be filled. That is the fact of the matter. Wanda can offer Billy her love—god, can she offer him so much of that—and guidance in his powers, but he is an adult now. He has never needed another mother.

Perhaps Tommy feels the same way as her. He lived with the Kaplans for a while. Now, Wanda can finally see why he left. Did he feel like an outsider? Like he didn’t belong? 

As far as Wanda knows, Tommy doesn’t feel like he belongs anywhere…and perhaps that’s a failure on her own part. She would give anything for a chance to change that; to give him a home, a place where he doesn’t view himself as an intruder. 

When Wanda gets back home, she is surprised by how tired she feels; she makes her way into the kitchen with a sigh, turning on her coffee machine. Agatha hasn’t spoken to her since their conversation that morning; if she is around, she stays hidden as Wanda gets a mug out and sets it down on the bench. 

Leaning back against the counter, Wanda frowns, remembering the pile of petals on the counter she didn’t get around to picking up before she left. They’re gone now. In fact, the whole bench is surprisingly clean. Curious, she looks out into the living room and to the vase of flowers—flower stems—she left there there this morning. They are still there, at least. Except—oh, of course. Thinking about it now, she’s surprised she didn’t feel him sooner. “There are some who would object to having people break into their homes,” she says, raising her voice a little. 

The address gets no response, but Wanda wasn’t completely expecting it to. Sighing, she tries again. “You can come out, Tommy. I know you’re there,” she says, turning back to face the counter so she can get out a second mug, still listening intently. Sure enough, she feels the sudden gust of air she has come to associate with Pietro. 

Tommy does not look well. Not to say that he looks unhealthy, but there is a certain quality about him that she has come to recognise in people who don’t look after themselves. Right now, he also looks contrite, caught with his hand in the metaphorical cookie jar. “Before you say anything, I really don’t have a good excuse for this. How’d you know it was me?”

“I suppose I have a sixth sense about these things,” she says, amused. “Although I won’t deny the friction burns on my carpet were a contributing factor. Have you been cleaning?” she asked, inclining her head toward the kitchen counter. 

Tommy scoffs. “No? I was actually just leaving.”

“Since you’re here, why don’t you stay and have coffee with me?” Wanda asks quickly, before he has a chance to vanish on her again. “Do you like coffee?”

It’s obvious from his reaction that Tommy was not expecting anything even remotely like an invitation for coffee; he seems quite thrown by it, and for a moment, Wanda thinks he’s going to disappear again anyway. Evidently, the desire for free caffeine wins out, because he acquiesces. “Well, I guess that depends on how much sugar you put in it.”

“How much do you take?” Wanda asks, leaning against the counter again.

“The real question’s how much do you have? Um, let me,” Tommy says, followed by a sudden blur around Wanda’s kitchen, at the end of which the second mug is sitting beside Wanda’s, probably a quarter filled with sugar. Tommy is standing next to Wanda in front of the coffee machine now, looking at it reproachfully as the dark brown liquid drips through the filter paper. He seems to be quite determined not to look at her.

Wanda watches him with a fond expression. “I didn’t know that about you,” she says simply. Pietro is similar; needs a lot more calories than a regular person to get by for the same amount of time, something to do with the accelerated metabolism. It makes sense.

“I normally use the instant stuff, this takes too long,” Tommy continues. “I can just boil water by agitating the molecules. It’s a neat trick. Why don’t you just, I don’t know, hex it into already being made?”

“There are rewards for patience,” Wanda says, amused, although her mind inevitably stoops to grimmer thoughts. All magic comes at a cost. Best not to use it haphazardly. 

“Sounds pretty dull, to be honest.” Tommy taps the glass jug into which the coffee is dripping. 

“Thank you for your flowers,” Wanda says, reaching out to touch Tommy’s shoulder. He starts—just a small movement, barely noticeable to any but Wanda’s trained eye. “They made me very happy.”

“Yeah, I sort of realised they sucked and came here to get rid of them before you saw them but you kind of beat me to the punch,” Tommy says, scratching the back of his neck as he turns around. Wanda is reminded of Billy doing the same thing earlier at breakfast. Such a little thing, but it makes her smile. 

Considering Tommy’s whole motif is being faster than everyone else, Wanda sincerely doubts that he could not have retrieved the flowers before she left her apartment. That is not the reason he came back here today, especially since he apparently knew she would be out at breakfast with the Kaplans all morning. Besides, if he truly didn’t want her to know he’d been there he would have left the moment she came in the front door; he’s more than capable of making a quick getaway. She does not call him out of it, doesn’t even want to. For now, it is enough to have him here. “I mean it, Tommy,” Wanda promises, in all sincerity. “I’m very happy you thought of me. I thought you might have been spending today with your own mother—”

Tommy doesn’t quite laugh, but he exhales a little harder than normal as though this idea is funny, and Wanda doesn’t continue it. She realises he’s looking into the living room at the flowers Billy sent with an expression that might be bitterness. Wanda waits a moment for him to say something; when he doesn’t, she adds, in a gentler tone, “Billy was very upset you weren’t able to join us today.” 

“Were you upset?” Tommy asks suddenly, looking at her. His face is hard to read. 

“I’m seeing you now, aren’t I?” Wanda says.

Tommy shrugs, turning his face away again. “Don’t get me wrong, Billy’s folks are great, but they’re just kind of, too great, you know what I mean?” he says, after a few moments of silence. “Wait, that came out all wrong. Mrs. Kaplan’s awesome, but she’s not my mom, that’s all, I thought she probably wouldn’t appreciate having a third wheel on her big day. Not that I think you’d have been a third wheel,” he adds quickly, delivering all of this in the space of about five seconds; Wanda would probably have missed most of it if she weren’t a veteran in the art of understanding speedsters. “Just figured, on balance, better I let them do their thing.”

“It’s alright, Tommy,” Wanda assures him. “To be perfectly honest, I know exactly what you mean. You don’t need to make excuses to me—although your brother might be a different matter,” she adds.

Tommy looks at her again, shuffling his feet. “I might’ve told him I’d already spoken to you.”

“He might have mentioned that.”

“I was going to.”

“It’s quite alright.” Wanda extends her hand again, touching Tommy’s arm gently. She hesitates.

She wants so badly to connect with him, if not as a mother then at least as a friend, or a mentor. She wants to make him feel secure and safe. She wants to give him everything that he deserves in the world and more, and she wants it so badly that her whole body physically aches with the force of it…and yet, she hardly even knows him. She knows what she has read in the Avengers files, and what Billy has told her, and what the newspapers have said, but nothing about the boy underneath all of it. Her son, her little Thomas, who was taken from her and somehow returned a hero in his own right, one who had saved her right when she needed it the most. 

Tommy doesn’t pull away, but he looks uncertain. “I don’t really know what to talk about,” he admits, glancing at the coffee machine again. It’s still dripping. 

“You could tell me about your week,” Wanda suggests, letting go of his arm. “What are you doing at the moment?”

“Oh, that’s, well,” Tommy offers up an awkward grin. “Yeah, I’m sorta between jobs right now. I was assembling tablets for a while but it turns out employers don’t like it when you up and disappear for three months without warning. I try explaining I got stuck in an alternate dimension and the cell reception’s awful, but do they listen?” He shrugs.

Wanda is silent for a moment. She knows about that now, of course. Billy explained everything after it happened, but the fact remains that she was totally oblivious the whole time, while Billy and the rest of his team were hopping around the multiverse and Tommy was trapped god knows where. 

Tommy continues before Wanda gets a chance to answer. “Anyway, you wouldn’t think super fastmanufacturing was a niche market but there aren’t actually that many companies actively trying to hire superhumans. Or, you know, mutants with criminal records who never finished high school, so that’s kind of a problem. But it’s fine. I’m fine.”

She doesn’t even bother suggesting a more traditional line of temporary work. To somebody like Tommy, the monotony would quite literally be unbearable. “You know if you need help, or somewhere to stay, you can always come here. Always.”

“I’m not homeless, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Tommy says, suddenly defensive. Wanda blinks, surprised, and he quickly deflates. “Although I don’t exactly live in Upper East Side. But, um, I didn’t come here to ask for help,” he says.

“I never said you did,” Wanda says. “I didn’t mean to offend you; I know you’re more than capable of looking after yourself. You’re a Young Avenger, after all.”

“Well, I was,” Tommy mutters. “Before they all up and left! Can you believe that?” he asks in a sudden outburst. “What did they expect me to do, be a solo act? You can’t just _do_ that these days. I need to be on a team.” 

“Once you’ve been an Avenger, you’re always an Avenger,” Wanda says, thinking of all the times the same thing was said to her in the wake of everything that happened with the Avengers, and the mutants. At the time, it frustrated her; they just didn’t understand. How funny that she should be saying the same thing to Tommy now. “That will never change. Don’t think of where you are now as the pinnacle of your life; you will have plenty of time to be a hero. Perhaps for now you could go back and finish school,” she suggests. 

Something about this seems to amuse Tommy; he gives a dry smile. “It’s just…kind of hard to go back to go back to that, you know? I mean, we saved the world! Or, I don’t know, we probably helped save the world at some point or another. And now I’m meant to just go to school or make iPhones or whatever, and even if I wanted to, I’m not exactly in a great position for the whole normal life thing. Being Speed was the only thing I was ever any good at, and it turns out I couldn’t even get that right. I mean,” he continues in the same breath, before Wanda can say anything. “I get it, we were all in a bad place when Cassie and Vision died, but I would’ve thought that meant we should have stuck together more than ever. But then they all just quit! And I guess that’s _fine_ for them, but I don’t really _have_ anything else.”

Wanda has been listening patiently until now, but at this, she has to say something. “You have me,” she says firmly. “Tommy, for whatever that might be worth, you have me, and Billy. There are people who care about you. I’m sure the rest of your teammates feel the same way.” 

Tommy does not answer, and he folds his arms. Wanda looks back at the coffee machine. There’s probably enough for one cup now. Surreptitiously, she allows a thin red ribbon of magic to flow through from her finger as she reaches for the jug, and when she picks it up, it’s full. “Do you take milk?” she asks him as she pours out their coffee. Tommy shakes his head, and Wanda passes him his cup. “Are you hungry?” she continues, picking up her own and raising it to her lips. “I’ve just eaten but you’re welcome to have something.”

Perhaps she might be onto something with offering him food and coffee; he raises his eyebrows, and then it’s as though there’s suddenly a small tornado in her kitchen. A few seconds later, he’s leaning on the counter next to her again with a large sandwich in his hands. Wanda smiles as he eats it. He must have been hungrier than he let on. “Listen to me,” she says, taking advantage of his being unable to talk back to her, “I know you aren’t a child, and I know that…” Wanda sighs. “I haven’t been a terribly good mother to you, certainly not half the mother you deserve, but I was being serious. I have a spare room here; it’s yours if you ever need it. Or anything else, for that matter.”

Tommy is already finishing his sandwich, but he seems to be taking a very long time to chew the last mouthful. “I was being held hostage by a cosmic horror monster on my last Mother’s Day,” he says at last. “The one before that I was hiding from the pro-reg movement in Captain America’s basement. Year before that I was in mutant juvie getting experimented on and my parents either didn’t care enough to find out what they were doing in there or just didn’t care, period. So, um, I know a bit about terrible mothers, and you’re not one of them.”

“Tommy, I had no idea…” Wanda can feel bile rising in her throat. He’d done time in juvenile detention, that much she knew, but until now, she has never had reason to think it was anything more than that. 

Tommy picks up his coffee cup and stirs it, and then proceeds to skull the entire thing apparently without getting burnt. “I actually tried to go back after I joined the Young Avengers,” he says, putting the mug down. “I thought since I was finally doing something good with my life she’d be happy. She, um, wasn’t.” 

Wanda turns to face Tommy properly and pulls him into her arms, hugging him, and he makes no attempt to resist. She has failed him, so many times. He has suffered so much while she was not there to protect him, and whatever he might think, all of that is on her. But she is going to make it right, one way or the other, even if it takes the rest of her life. All she has ever wanted is to be there for her children; the universe has given her a second chance, and she will not let them down again. 

It takes a moment for Tommy to return the hug, but when he does, he leans into it, burying his face in her shoulder and squeezing her tightly. Wanda lifts her hand up to cradle his head, gently running her fingers through soft white hair. “I am so proud of you, Tommy,” she says quietly. 

They stay like that for a while, and it’s something that they both needed so desperately that Wanda wishes it could last longer. Tommy is the first one to let go, backing off and averting his gaze. “I should probably get going,” he says.

Wanda is disappointed, but she understands. “Of course, but wait a moment,” she says, crossing to where she writes her shopping lists and tearing off a piece of paper from the notepad. She writes down her phone number. “Please take this with you. Call me if you ever want to talk.”

He accepts the paper with a frown, and then puts it in his pocket. “I will,” he says. 

“Promise?”

“Yes! I promise,” Tommy says, looking slightly exasperated, but Wanda is certain he’s smiling. 

He would not be the only one. “And thank you for cleaning my apartment,” Wanda adds. “It’s a very thoughtful gift.”

Tommy grimaces, not answering that as he turns toward the front door; he walks as a normal pace so she can accompany him. “Hey, before I go, I have a question. Which of us is older?”

“Pardon?” Wanda asks.

“Me and Billy,” Tommy clarifies. “Who was born first?”

“Oh!” Wanda laughs. She is a twin too, after all. “That would be you. Actually, we didn’t even know it was twins until after you were already born. Billy never showed up on the ultrasound.”

“No kidding?” Tommy looks exceptionally pleased with that piece of information. Wanda strongly suspects he will try and use it against his brother at some point in the future. “Great, that’s all I needed to hear.”

Wanda chuckles as they reach the door, and she opens it for him. “It’s quite an interesting story, actually. Perhaps for another time?”

Tommy looks down at his feet, drumming his fingers against his leg. “Yeah. That’d be nice,” he says with sincerity. 

He hugs her again then. It’s not quite as desperate at the first one, but that’s what makes it nice, like they’re just two people saying goodbye for a while but who will see each other again soon. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, but not a long time away. There’s a lot of promise in that hug; stories to tell, meals to share, memories to make. It’s the start of something wonderful. “Thanks, Mom,” Tommy says.

And then he is gone, a gusty slipstream already blowing Wanda’s hair forward before she even has the chance to respond. She is not worried about that, though. There will be plenty of opportunities to tell Tommy that she loves him. Right now, she is happy. She is happier than she can ever remember feeling. Shutting the door, she steps back into her apartment and looks around. Still no sign of Agatha; she probably wanted to give them some privacy. 

Wanda goes back to the kitchen to get her coffee, carrying it out to the living room and sitting down on the couch. Her eyes settle on the flowers above her fireplace, still barely holding it together in the wake of the extreme g-force that their owner subjected them to. 

Perhaps they have not been treated with the same care and attention as the ones on the table in the duration of their short lifespan, but they are no less beautiful for it. 


End file.
